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Garrison Keillor
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Lake Wobegon Days Kindle Edition

by Garrison Keillor (Author), Mike Lynch (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 396 ratings
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“Lake Wobegon Days is about the way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history.” —The New York Times

“A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life…Keillor’s strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary.” —Chicago Tribune

“Keillor’s laughs come dear, not cheap, emerging from shared virtue and good character, from reassuring us of our neighborliness and strength….His true subject is how daily life is shot with grace. Keillor writes a prose that can be turned to laughter, to tears…to compassion or satire, to a hundred effects. He is a brilliant parodist.” —San Francisco Chronicle

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    347 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin Books
  5. Publication date
    April 1, 1990
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Grade level
    12 and up
  8. File size
    1029 KB
  9. Page Flip
    Enabled
  10. Word Wise
    Enabled
  11. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word [brought to you by HighBridge Audio]. -- NARAS

"Warm, witty, nostalgic, sometimes sad, always riveting..." -- Jack Wilkinson, United Press International

"...Keillor re-asserts a positive image of America, portraying people who care about their neighbors..." -- Keith Graham, Atlanta Journal Constitution

From the Back Cover

Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability - both in print and in performance - to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This recording of Keillor reading his own novel, Lake Wobegon Days, is a carefully edited abridgement of the book and includes a few segments taken from live performances recorded during a fundraising tour for public radio stations in 1985.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AFWIYGK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reissue edition (April 1, 1990)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 1990
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1029 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 347 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0670805149
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 396 ratings

About the author

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Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

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Garrison Keillor wrote Boom Town during the pandemic lockdown in New York, reading drafts of it to his wife, Jenny, sitting across the room. He did parts of the book in monologues for audiences in Boston, New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Virginia, along with the story of how, in the eighth grade, his shop teacher Orville Buehler, worried about the boy's carelessness with the power saw, sent him up to LaVona Person's speech class, thus changing his life. Keillor says, "For many people, the key to success is discipline and education, but for me, it was ineptitude with power tools." His twice-weekly columns appear on Substack (garrisonkeillor.substack.com).

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
396 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Zenhead
5.0 out of 5 stars Roll on the floor
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
... I can hear his melodious voice throughout the book ... about the time I first began listening to a prairie home companion I'd started a relationship with a woman whose parents had come from a small town in Wisconsin. I'd come from a slightly larger town in Indiana. Had cousins in Minneapolis. The Hoosier farmers in my family were cosmopolitan compared to foreigners, but republicans, Lutherans, not much on humor. My soon to be wife was of Norwegian stock. A candle I called them the word droll epitomizes keillors humor. Very, very insightful in the dreaded environment of such stark, damaging functionality ... No wonder alcoholism is so prevalent, but that word's. Rarely used, as it was in my Catholic Irish family. The sharp edge of ethnic heritages impact on humans is like a surgical scalpel in keillors hands. Superb a tremendously funny read, but opens up some painful experiences,too
12 people found this helpful
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Ronald R. Ostromecki
5.0 out of 5 stars A fun read
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021
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If you liked the monologues of Garrison Keillor, you will be fascinated with this book. Garrison describes the history behind mythical lake Wobegon in a manner somewhat similar to a James Mischner's prehistory such as found
in Centennial. You get decades of history leading up to the founding of Garrison's hometown .The story contains some tragedy and some comedy, including the misdirected rail line whose non-completion defined the location of the city. It has been many years since I first read this tale, but I had to get it again to satisfy a nostalgic need for more Lake Wobegon.
6 people found this helpful
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corey t foust
3.0 out of 5 stars Tapes worked
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024
Verified Purchase
I was not aware that his work included very sad stories. Bought this set and listened to the stories on the side with Spring labeled. Pretty depressing. Would not recommend.
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Average Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars Read This Book
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2022
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If you were lucky enough to hear Prairie Home Companion when it was on NPR you know How good Garrison Keillor is. This book is delightful Witty Whimsical Insightful .
One person found this helpful
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Doug Allen
4.0 out of 5 stars A good book for the summer reading list.
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2013
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I enjoyed this book! I've listened to Garrison Kellor on NPR for years and thought I should finally get to it. The writing is excellent and the story telling first rate. It provides a unique insight into life in small town America.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Keillor at His Best
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2015
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After listening to Keillor on the radio for many years, I figured it was time to read one of his books. Lake Wobegon Days is a great description of the author's fictitious hometown in Minnesota. Keillor did a great job of bringing me into the town--that I wish was my hometown, and watching the antics of the residents.

As a normal "fast" reader, I was surprised how long it took me to get through this book. However, it dawned on me that it was due to Keillor's slow story-telling voice echoing through my head as I read, reading the book to me--which only made the it better. On a few occasions I tried to plow through some pages at my normal pace and in my own voice, but it didn't work. I went back and let Keillor's voice read it to me and it all made sense.
23 people found this helpful
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Ernestine N.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book !!!
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2023
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As usual, great condition, great book from the Wobegone Novels. Garrison Keiller’s novels never disappoint.
One person found this helpful
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Kim Hubbell
5.0 out of 5 stars Why not on Kindle????
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2012
Verified Purchase
The title says it all. Why is this wonderful work not available on Kindle? Some other of Keillor's works are, so he is obviously not some kind of Salingeresque weirdo who does not want his work limited in availability. PLEASE, Mr. Keillor, allow your splendid books to be fully available to us Kindle addicts!!! I read my first edition LWD until it was dog-eared. I promise to take better care of my e-book...

****UPDATE**** - there is now an entry for a Kindle edition of this book, but it is still listed as "currently unavailable". It is priced at $12.98. I do not know when it will be officially available and Amazon makes it impossible to communicate with them. But....there is more hope than before!!!!!!
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Peter J Strachan
5.0 out of 5 stars Why Did I Wait So Long
Reviewed in Canada on November 1, 2022
Verified Purchase
to read this book. Side splitting humour combined with a humanity as warm as a mother’s embrace. Pass it on.
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Brendan T. Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars Never Fails to Delight
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
I bought this most recent copy of Lake Wobegon Days as a gift for a friend who like me has read it some years ago but had forgotten just how funny, wise and insightful it is. I am a big fan of Garrison Keillor's work and find his stories of small town America with its idiosyncracies and foibles transfer equally well to small town Ireland or virtually anywhere in the world, because he writes with great insight and wisdom about human nature and community. He is also the master of gentle humour that recognises the absurdity of some of our notions and attitudes to daily living. lake Wobegon can be read and reread time and time again, it never fails to delight.
7 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Woe-begon about this
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2016
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Bought this as an audio book for my mum who is partially sighted and can't read any longer. I read Lake Wobegon Days many years ago (borrowed from a library) in the days when internet shopping was a thing of science fiction, and enjoyed it so much that I eventually bought a copy for myself. My mum likes Bill Bryson so I thought that she would also appreciate the gentler humour of Garrison Keillor; and fortunately she does! It's not laugh-out-loud funny, although I did once laugh out loud reading it (spoiler alert: description of an accident a tractor) whilst on a commuter train, which really isn't the done thing! Garrison Keillor has a great knack for story-telling, spinning a yarn which creates a fantastic blanket of great texture and colour. His descriptions of Minnesota characters are barbed and affectionate.

The CDs arrived promptly from the seller and it was exactly as described.
2 people found this helpful
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Kerry Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars Prchased in 2019: "A good bedtime lullaby"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
I first heard this via the BBC's excellent "Book at Bedtime" series or was it "Book of the Week", and have finally got hold of the audio CD. It is a pleasure to put on at the end of a day, and listen to Garrison Keillor's impeccably sparse but illustrative narration of his childhood scenes in rural Minnesota.

To my mind this is the ONLY recording of the Lake Wobegone series worth listening to unless you are a die-hard fan and want to scoop up everything & anything he does. Unwittingly I puchased "News from Lake Wobegone" - a 4-CD set which frankly I have abandoned, after finding that is not "more of the same", but Keillor on the road, doing live stage readings of his works.

There is undoubtably new material in there, but along with reading his original stuff, the recordings are full of audience applause, audience laughter, audience PRESENCE every minute or so. He also tends to speed up & dramatise his once-cool languid delivery, so I may be looking to sell the set on to some fan sometime.
One person found this helpful
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Spike
3.0 out of 5 stars Make note
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
Never sure audio books but played in the car to work and enjoyed it. How can you be dissapointed by the mans narration, he has the perfect voice for it.
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